1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus which generates and displays operation menus for facilitating operation execution or data selection for multimedia display data including text, graphics, and sound.
2. Description of the Related Art
A first example of a conventional data processing apparatus which displays operation menus is a data processing apparatus which receives teletext broadcasts and displays an index for selecting the content of the teletext or for returning from a selected item of teletext to the index. This operation menu does not change in response to the content of the broadcast teletext, but is rather an operation menu whose menu items are fixed.
A second example of a conventional data processing apparatus is the Internet browser software "NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR" (Registered Trade Mark) produced by Netscape Communications, Inc. "NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR" is an application for accessing the World Wide Web (often abbreviated to "WWW") which is a distributed information system based on a concept called "Hypertext". A detailed description of the World Wide Web is given in the article "Media Integration by the World Wide Web" which appeared in the Jouhou Shori Gakkai Data Base System Research Report 100-21 (Oct. 14, 1994).
The main function of the NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR is to read information written in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and to interpret and display its content. When information which shows a link to another page (called a Uniform Resource Locator or "URL") is selected using a pointing device such as a mouse, NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR takes data from the link address indicated by the URL and displays it. NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR is also able to display predetermined menus for "hot spots" which are special marks provided in the display data (such as marks showing link addresses). A description of NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR is given between pages 93 and 99 of the September 1995 edition of "Internet User" magazine (Softbank Publishing).
As described above, the content of menus for the first example of a conventional data processing apparatus is fixed. As a result, it is not possible to select menu items in accordance with the content of broadcast teletext.
With the second conventional technique, while predetermined menus are displayed for hot spots displayed with the predetermined mark, making it possible to change the display to the data associated with the hot spot or to selectively perform a plurality of operations for the hot spot, it is not possible to change the operation menus in accordance with the content of the hot spots. As a result, the apparatus becomes more difficult to use since unnecessary menu items are displayed for hot spots.
When looking through a set of pages which are connected by such links, it has been necessary to pass through the pages one at a time, so that it has not been possible to view a page which is two or more links away from the present hot spot by making only one selection operation.
In actual Internet pages, hot spots which represent links also tend to be distributed throughout the page, so that it is difficult for users to see all of the available links when making a selection. In particular, when a user is unsure as to which hot spot to select, the user has to go to the trouble of moving the mouse cursor a considerable distance over the screen.
When using a conventional browser, the only information which the user can refer to when selecting a hot spot is the information given by the hot spot itself, so that users can often end up switching to data which does not serve their purpose.
Finally, most conventional browsers assume the user is using a pointing device such as a mouse, so that such selections become difficult if the user has to use the ten key pad on a remote control unit.